Government and Politics

The U.S. Senate Tuesday voted to adopt year-round daylight saving time. The measure now goes to the House for further consideration. This timely, but unexpected development raises the prospects for ending the twice-yearly changing of our clocks.

Majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature drove the largest transportation spending roadmap in state history across the finish line on Thursday on nearly party line votes. The revenue and spending package funds new spans over the Columbia River, wider highways, four new ferries, bus rapid transit expansions, free fares for youth, fish-friendly culverts and new bike trails and pedestrian bridges.

An effort to jump-start the pace of earthquake retrofits to vulnerable, older school buildings in Washington state has passed the legislature unanimously. The Evergreen State has lagged behind other West Coast states and provinces in reinforcing schools to withstand strong shaking.

A proposed tax on gasoline and diesel delivered to out-of-state customers from Washington refineries has gone by the wayside. The Washington House of Representatives voted Tuesday night to jettison and replace the "exported fuel tax" after strong blowback from neighboring states.

Majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature on Tuesday narrowly beat back a third attempt to squelch a new tax they proposed on gasoline and diesel exported to neighboring states from Washington refineries.The 6 cents per gallon tax would support a multibillion dollar transportation infrastructure package. The tax proposal has stoked bipartisan anger and threats of retaliation in recent days from politicians in Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Drivers there would pay more at the pump, but can’t vote on the Washington state lawmakers who seem determined to impose the “exported fuel tax” to pay for projects back home.

As states from Oregon to New York announce plans to end mask mandates, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday announced that he’s lifting outdoor masking requirements and plans to announce next week a date when the mask mandate for public indoor spaces and schools will be lifted.

Democrats in charge of the Washington Legislature are proposing a new tax on gasoline and diesel fuel destined for Oregon, Idaho and Alaska to partially pay for a cornucopia of highway, transit, rail, bike trail and ferry construction across Washington state. The "exported fuel tax" was included in a transportation spending and revenue package unveiled Tuesday in Olympia.

Washington state senators are trying a new gambit to stop the twice-yearly ritual of changing our clocks from standard time to daylight time and back again. A previous effort to move the whole West Coast onto permanent daylight saving time failed to win requisite congressional support. So now, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers is pushing for Pacific standard time to be observed year-round.

Washington state workers and perhaps many others could get an extra day off in honor of women getting the right to vote. That idea for a Women's Suffrage Day holiday got a friendly reception on the opening day of Washington's 2022 legislative session.

Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen has died. His death comes after the Whatcom County Republican was hospitalized last month following a COVID-19 diagnosis while in El Salvador.